Year: 2005

It’s so inspiring to hear the leader of our country say things like:

“I’ve, you know, heard the voices of the people that presumably will be in a position of responsibility after these elections, although you never know.”

This guy went to Yale?

Laralee and I were watching Phenomemon and discussing the nature of intelligence and, more specifically, curiosity. I find that very few people I know are as curious about things as I am. Laralee says she would be more curious, but since she seldom has the time nor inclination to find answers to the things she wonders about, it dampens her curiosity. Personally, I think that laziness and curiosity aren’t necessarily related: you could be both.

In any case, I remember a long time ago (early high school, I suspect) when I became curious about how the body makes energy. I mean really makes energy; everyone knows that food is converted to energy that drives your muscles or whatever. What I wanted to know is how that energy is converted, stored, and then released… on the molecular level. After a bit of research, I learned about ATP– adenosine triphosphate– and how the body “builds” these molecules and then breaks them down (turning ATP into ADP) to release the energy stored in the atomic bonds. Wow. It was amazing stuff, and I even took the chemical formula (C10H16N5O13P3) and figured out how the molecule was structured. Then the phosphate groups made sense, and I really understood how the body made energy.

It’s these sorts of thoughts– I can think of many such seminal moments throughout my life– that keep me interested and learning. There’s so much amazing stuff around us, and so much more to learn than I’ll ever know. I find it a little disappointing that more people don’t share my curiosity, but that just means they have to listen as I explain to them (in excited tones) about the latest thing I’ve wondered about or learned.

From an article in today’s edition of The Register:

According to Dell’s lawyers – old hands at this sort of thing – the owner of Dellwebsites is committing “an act of parasitism” and “creating a risk of confusion” between himself and the online PC vendor Dell. It wants the domain signed over to it, at the owner’s cost.

The theory runs that as soon as someone sees or hears of www.dellwebsites.com, they immediately think “oh that lovely company that sells cheap but well-built PCs has got into web design”. They are then overwhelmed with revulsion when they find out it’s nothing to do with Dell the PC maker.

Yes, incredible as it may seem, the name “Dell” did exist before 1984. You may think this was obvious since the company is named after founder Michael Dell. If nothing else, his parents would have used the name before him. Does Michael not realise that other families may also the same surname? He probably does, but tough businessman that he is, he’s not afraid to screw over his own kin.

In this case that is one Paul Dell. Paul lives in Spain and, incredibly, makes websites for a living. Paul thought the Internet domain dellwebsites.com was therefore a pretty good description of what he was up to online (apparently, dell.com had already gone).

But while Mr. Dell (Paul, that is) was pleased with his purchase back in April 2001, it now appears that he was trying to rip off Mr. Dell (Michael) and his enormous US company. Quite what the enormous impact Paul’s website has had on the PC giant is hard to gauge.

For the first half of this year, Dell’s revenue actually went up 20 per cent to $23 billion. No mention of Paul Dell’s web design business has appeared in its financial results as having a negative impact on these sales.

Nonetheless, it’s not just about the money, it’s about the principle, isn’t it? Which perhaps makes it hard to understand why it was that Dell backed down the last time it tried to take dellwebsites.com off Paul Dell. Yes, Paul Dell has been through this charade once before, in April 2002. Dell was still adamant that it rightly owned the domain, but when Paul Dell make it clear that he wasn’t prepared to cave in to pressure, the company walked away.

Why didn’t it take him to a domain arbitrator or a law court, you ask? Most likely because it didn’t stand a chance of winning the case. And so jump forward two-and-a-half years and we’re here again. What has changed?

Not much it seems: “You continue to use the denomination DELL WEB SITES as trade mark, company name, trade name or shop sign to designate your activities,” roar Dell’s lawyers. Er, yes.

“Alike you continue to use the denomination DELL WEB SITES as domain name and within the copyright notices to which the Site links.” Well, that’s because that’s where I run my business, haven’t we been here before?

“Finally, you modified the copyright notice to ‘Copyright 2004, Paul Dell, Dell Web Sites’ in order to include your first name.” That’s it! They’ve got Paul Dell bang to right because – get this – he included his first name as a copyright notice on his own website.

This would be funny were it not so worrying for the individuals and small businesses that find themselves at the end of such unwarranted demands by powerful legal firms and international businesses.

In a press conference today, Bush said:

“In the long term, our children and grandchildren will benefit from a free Iraq.”

I don’t know about benefit, but with his request for an additional $80 billion to support the war efforts, it’s a good bet my children and grandchildren will be paying for it!

A long time ago, Steve gave me a subwoofer for some reason (probably because it was broken or something, or maybe because he bought a better one). I dug it out of the closet the other day and jacked it into the stereo receiver that’s hooked to my computer(s). Now I can listen to my tunes while I work, and get the throbbing beat from the sub. Sweet!

I haven’t yet cranked the trance stuff (streamed from internet radio of course) and gone upstairs to see if it rattles the floor or anything…

I’m working on my taxes for 2004, and as usual I’m asked the big question:

Do you want to contribute $3 to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund? This will not change your taxes in any way.

Every year I wonder what this is all about… it doesn’t change my taxes, which means I’m not making a direct contribution. Where does the money come from, then? If I choose “yes” will the IRS treat my tax return differently?

All that aside, we saw in this last presidential campaign that both candidates spent something on the order of a quarter billion dollars– so I don’t think I should be sending another three bucks. Sheesh.

The FBI, showing once again how gracious, caring, and humanitarian they can be, decided to release Mei Xia Dong, a Chinese woman who’s been in custody for over two months as a terror suspect. Under Patriot Act provisions, of course, she was not entitled to a lawyer, a hearing, or even a description of the charges. I guess she just sat in the slammer wondering what the heck was wrong, and when (if ever) she’d be released.

Apparently the original tip that put the FBI on her trail described a 21-year-old Chinese man named Dong. How they could flub that up is beyond me, but I can’t say it gives me any confidence in our crack terrorist-tracking teams…

FedEx just came by with my new Mac Mini.

This thing is sweet. It’s very small– about the size of a thick CD carrying case– and packs a lot of whallop. Now I’ve got to plug everything together and see if OS X lives up to its hype…

In his inaugural speech today, Bush commented:

“America will not impose our own system of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.”

What a crock. I wonder if he even proofs what his speechwriters throw at him, because it’s so patently absurd in the face of what he’s orchestrating in Iraq. The mission over there seems to always have been about setting up an American-style democracy… despite the fact that the people there have no experience with it.

In the end, I’m not sure they even want a democracy. No, they don’t want a religious dictatorship either, but to say that America won’t tromp around forcing others to be like us while doing precisely that is insulting.

In classic form, Lily and I are trading e-mail at midnight as we finalize the name for the fabled Fourth Company. Naming a company seems to be almost, but not quite, as difficult as naming a child.

In any case, after weeks of agonizing thought and a lot of back-and-forth on what we liked, we finally decided on (drumroll, please) Zing Studios. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s got spunk– pretty much like the two of us.

Thus begins the journey. And tomorrow I’ll be filling out reams of paperwork for the IRS and everyone else. Whee!